3D Global/3D Local

The Texture->3D Local commands in the Matter module allow you to define 3D solid procedural textures based on marble, wood, or cloud-type patterns for a selected object or polygon.

3D Global

Allows you to apply a 3D solid procedural texture to the material of the entire object.

3D Local

Allows you to apply a 3D solid procedural texture to the current material of individual polygons or groups of polygons on a selected object.

For more information on applying materials to polygons, see Polygon (Matter Module) in this guide, and see also Assigning Textures to Polygons of the Defining Materials and Textures User's Guide.

Tip:

To modify an existing texture, you can also open a Schematic window, select the Matter mode, activate Open/Close, then select the displayed texture symbol to display the 3D Solid Texture dialogue box.

Procedure

To apply a 3D texture to an object, choose the Texture->3D Global or 3D Local command.

When you choose either of these commands, a default material is applied to the object if it doesn't already have a material.

The appropriate 3D Solid Texture dialogue box appears.

Parameters

Select - 3D Texture

Click Select beside the 3D Texture text box to open the database browser. You can browse through a library of source 3D texture files, either inside or outside the database.

To load a texture file, double-click its file name: the browser closes and the picture is displayed with its file name listed in the 3D Texture text box. You can change the name of the file in this text box. This is useful for making edits to the parameters and saving them with a new name.

Texture Type

Displays one of three basic patterns on which you define colours. There are three types of 3D solid procedural textures: marble, wood, and cloud.

• Marble defines a pattern of superimposed layers of colour.
• Wood defines concentric cylinders of colours.
• Cloud defines an "organic" pattern that can be visualized as a sponge.

The basic patterns created by the marble, wood, and cloud types can be manipulated using sliders that control the following parameters.

Colour Map

The texture colour map is created from the five colours you define for each of the associated squares, and an interpolation (blending) factor that mixes each of the colours with its neighbour.

The interpolation can be controlled by moving the black factor arrows: the closer two colours get to each other, the more abrupt the transition between them.

Colour Sliders

The RGB button above the colour sliders toggles between the RGB, HLS, and HSV colour models.

The five colours in the Colour Map are defined by clicking the corresponding squares and changing colour values using the colour sliders (colours can also be defined with the Palette button).

A (Alpha)

The transparency value of the alpha channel associated with each of the five basic colours in the Colour Map can be defined with the Alpha slider. The interpolation between levels of transparency can be seen in the black bar at the top of the Colour Map.

When used with the Blending and/or Effect Value options of Alpha Channel or RGB intensity, the Colour Map can be used to control the blending of the texture with the object's current material, reflectivity, transparency, and the roughness on the object surface.

Palette

Displays the Palette dialogue box for selecting and mixing colours. You can also define and save your own palettes. For more information on using the Palette, see Palette.

The Incoming Colour option is available in only the Material and 3D Texture dialogue boxes. Incoming Colour allows you to transfer an incoming colour to foreground and background entries.

Select a colour in the appropriate dialogue box, then click Palette. The edited colour appears in the Incoming Colour box. You can now add this colour to the palette. The Set Foreground and Set Background buttons allow you to transfer the edited colour to the foreground or background entry.

Transformation

Scaling

Controls the size of the 3D texture in proportion to the size of the selected object. Values range from - to in x, y, and z.

Rotation

Controls the orientation of the 3D texture in relation to the selected object. Values range from 0 to 360 in x, y, and z.

Translation

Controls the location of the 3D texture in relation to the selected object. Values range from - to  in x, y, and z.

The colours of the patterns created with the previous parameters are defined using the Colour Map and Colour sliders, as well as the options and sliders associated with Blending and Effect.

mental ray

The options in the mental ray area let you define 3D texture shaders used when rendering with mental ray.

When you select the Shader option, its dialogue box is displayed in which you can choose and activate a texture shader.

For a description of shaders, see the Using Shaders section of the Rendering User's Guide.

Note:
To see the effect of the 3D Texture shaders, you must select the mental ray renderer in the Preview->Setup dialogue box.

• Shader activates or deactivates the texture shader. If no shader is currently selected, clicking here is equivalent to the Select option.
• Select displays the browser so you can choose a shader. The browser opens to the 3D texture shader database.

Select the shader from the database and click Load. The shader name appears in the text box below the Shader option.

If you need to search for a shader, double-click the .. (two dots) at the top of the browser and select the appropriate chapter.

• Edit: If you want to save the shader by another name and then edit the parameters, you can modify its name in the text box in which it appears. This creates a new shader with the new name, but with the current parameters. To edit the shader's parameters, click Edit, which displays the dialogue box containing the shader's parameters which you can edit.

Custom Shader Ball

The Custom Shader Ball allows previewing of the edited material/texture and associated shader using the mental ray renderer.

To access the Custom Shader Ball, select a texture or material, and click Edit in the mental ray area. The Custom Shader Ball is accessible from a Custom Shader dialogue box that contains Auto and Preview buttons.

Click Preview and a small dialogue box with the Custom Shader Ball appears with the texture or material you have chosen. To enable automatic previews while modifying shader parameters, click Auto.

To remove the Custom Shader Ball, click Ok.

Display Box

The display box shows the effect of the parameters you set on a choice of three surfaces (XY, YZ, and Sphere).

The View Texture option activates the display box (this is selected by default). The display box is refreshed whenever you release the mouse button.

• XY displays the texture on the xy (2D) plane.
• YZ displays the texture on the yz (2D) plane.

Note:
The 2D planes show only the pattern of the Colour Map - it is used as a visual reference only and does not change the texture in any way.

• Sphere displays the texture on a 3D sphere (the default) and allows you to view the results of the parameter setup.

Effect Value

Alpha Channel

Uses the alpha channel of the Colour Map to create transparency, reflectivity, or roughness effects on the object. The different alpha channel (transparency) values of the Colour Map are used to define the various effects.

RGB Intensity

Uses the RGB intensity of the Colour Map to create transparency, reflectivity, and roughness effects. The different RGB intensity values of the Colour Map are used to define the various effects.

Reflectivity

Allows you to control the reflectivity effect created using the Effect Value Alpha Channel or RGB Intensity options. Values range from -1 to 1. At -1, a white pixel is non-reflective and a black pixel is fully reflective. At 1, the effect is reversed; at zero, no reflectivity is visible.

Transparency

Allows you to control the transparency effect created using the Effect Value Alpha Channel or RGB Intensity options. Values range from -1 to 1. At -1, a white pixel is opaque and a black pixel is completely transparent. At 1, the effect is reversed; at zero, no transparency is visible.

Roughness

Allows you to control the roughness effect created using the Effect Value Alpha Channel or RGB intensity options. Values range from -20 to 20. A greater value (positive or negative) generates a more pronounced roughness effect (negative values create valleys instead of mountains). At 0, there is no roughness.

Spacing

Controls the distance between layers (in Marble) and cylinders (in Wood). It is not used with the Cloud type. Values range from 0 to 10.

Angle

Blends the pattern at one end so layers (in Marble) and cylinders (in Wood) are not parallel. It is not used with the Cloud type. Values range from 0 to 45.

Strength

Deforms the basic pattern by blending, stretching, and squeezing it in all directions. Values range from 0 to 20. It is not used with the cloud type.

Iteration

Controls the amount of pattern detail. The greater the value, the more detailed the pattern (and the longer it takes to render). Values range from 1 to 8. It is not used with the Wood type.

Power

Used only when the iteration number is fairly high. It deforms the basic pattern in a way similar to Strength, but is applied on a larger scale. Values normally range from -2 to 20.

Tip:
Patterns created using the parameters described above can be further altered by setting values for the Scaling, Rotation, and Translation parameters.

Blending

There are three options used to control the blending of the texture with the current material on the object's areas of illumination: Without Mask, Alpha Channel Mask, and RGB Intensity. Results are displayed in the display box when the Sphere View Texture is selected.

Without Mask

Uniformly blends the texture with the object's current material. The proportion between texture and material visibility is controlled by the Overall Blending slider.

Alpha Channel Mask

Uses the alpha channel (transparency) of the Colour Map as a blending factor. The texture is blended with the object's current material according to the different alpha channel values of the Colour Map. Where the alpha channel value is high (white), the colour of the texture is visible; where the alpha channel value is low (black), the object's current material is visible.

RGB Intensity Mask

Uses the RGB colour intensity of the Colour Map as a blending factor. The texture is blended with the object's current material according to the different RGB intensity values of the Colour Map. Where the RGB intensity is high (white) the colour of the texture is visible; where the RGB intensity is low (black) the object's material is visible.

Overall Blending

Allows you to control the amount of texture visible in proportion to the object's current material. Values range from 0 to 1. If the value is set to 0, only material is visible; if the value is set to 1, only the texture is visible.

Ambient

Allows you to control the visibility of the texture on the object's ambient area of illumination. Values range from above 0 to 1.

If the value is set to 0, the texture is replaced by the object's material (global or current local).

Diffuse

Allows you to control the visibility of the texture on the object's diffuse area of illumination. Values range from above 0 to 1.

Note:
If the value is set to 0, the texture is replaced by the object's material (global or current local).

Specular

Allows you to control the visibility of the texture on the object's specular area of illumination. Values range from above 0 to 1. They may be set higher to compensate for reflectivity or transparency.

Note:
If the value is set to 0, the texture is replaced by the object's material (global or current local).

Preview

Allows you to render the selected object without exiting the dialogue box. When you select Preview, the preview window opens and the object is rendered. Middle-click to exit the window or stop the rendering. Make sure to set the preview render options in the Preview Setup dialogue box before you use this button. For more information, see Preview->Setup.

Key

Used for texture keyframe animation. It saves the current 3D texture parameter settings at the current frame number. Parameters that can be keyframed are displayed with a double border. Without exiting this dialogue box, you can use the time line pointer to change the current frame to set other keyframes.

Save

Allows you to save the current parameter settings as a 3D texture file (.t3D) so you can create your own library of 3D textures. When you select Save, the Save Textures3D dialogue box is displayed. By default, the current texture name is displayed in the browser file name box where you can use the same name or enter another one.

Delete

Resets all parameters to their default settings and the texture is removed from the object.

Restore

Resets all the parameters to the values that existed when you opened the 3D Solid Texture dialogue box.

Cancel

Exits the dialogue box without saving any changes.

Ok

Assigns the current 3D texture parameter settings to the object.

You must save the object (or scene) if you want to save the texture with the object.

Last updated 02-apr-1998